March 2023 Newsletter
“March is the end of the beginning – the best time to adjust your yearly goals, make realistic plans, and be amazing” – Unknown
March – EnE volunteers working on providing fun activities to the underprivileged, warm food, hygiene products & warm clothing for the unhoused population in the chilly winter times.
Important Reminders:
- Please mark your calendar and stay tuned for the annual volunteer appreciation event on May 6, 2023.
- Volunteer Hours Recording: Please make sure you continue to record your volunteering hours by logging into our new system.
- Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA): To learn more about the hours required to earn PVSA awards in each age group, go to: https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/eligibility
- Stay tuned to EnE:
- Website: https://empowerexcel.org/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Empowerandexcel/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/empower-and-excel/
Now for a Quick Recap of Our March 2023 Activities
Crafty bakers of EnE baked hundreds of homely decadent muffins, cookies, and brownies for East bay unhoused and Family Supportive Housing.
Young tutors had fun teaching their little tutees different subjects, chess, and art. Our volunteers ensure that tutoring programs are culturally responsive and tailored to meet the unique needs of student populations.
EnE volunteers prepare the first meal of the day, a balanced hot breakfast for Eastbay unhoused.
EnE volunteers making hearty delicious lunches and dinners (that include, pasta, veg/non-veg/pb&j sandwiches, fruit, snack bars, juice/water) for the needy in our local community.
Volunteers prepared baked goods and meals and dropped off at Fremont, Family Supportive Housing and JW house.
Addressing hunger is a moral imperative! EnE volunteers hand out fresh handmade lunch packs to the homeless and destitute, in San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Cruz.
E&E volunteers participating in hygiene drive for South Valley FSH, which will be directly distributed to the underserved community. These include personal hygiene items, allowing them to self-groom and feel refreshed each day. They may only be temporary solutions, but they can be vital for homeless people in the short-term.
STEAM for Kids: develops creators, thinkers, problem solvers, doers, innovators, and inventors. Exposing kids to simple STEAM activities at an early age today sets a foundation for higher learning tomorrow. Our EnE volunteers conducted STEAM activities for children from low-income communities in San Jose and Gilroy. It’s great to see kids having fun. We had lunch, raffles, and fun incentives.
True methods of introducing the gardening concept to children. EnE Volunteers at the Gardening event.
Knitting caps for cancer patients continues by our young volunteers.
EnE volunteers made greeting cards for children at the hospitals featuring friendly birthday wishes and new year wish cards for underprivileged children.
Supporting ASHA JYOTHI Handicapped Welfare
Supporting ASHA JYOTHI Handicapped Welfare
- EnE volunteers and their families have been wholeheartedly supporting AshaJyothi, a shelter for abandoned special needs kids in India through their generous donations and meal sponsorships.
- A BIG Thank You Masson family, Aneeja Abbas family, Fotedar Family, Vuppala Family, Sheila Menezes Family, Kothuri Family, and an anonymous donor for food sponsorships to disabled orphaned children.
- Please sign-up here if you are interested in sponsoring meals for ~70 special needs kids and their staff of 15 people. We are very happy to share that our anonymous donor is matching two meals for every meal sponsored in the year 2022. Cost: $200 for full-day meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), $80 for just Lunch or Dinner, $40 for breakfast:
- https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948AFAE2AAAF49-2023
- Payment Info: Use one of the methods below to make a payment (Please note that online transaction fees are charged to E&E, so please include those fees as well.). Please do company matching wherever possible. (Tax-id: 47-3656395)
- Pay online at: https://empowerexcel.org/donate/
- Zelle transfer to: empowerandexcel.np@gmail.com
- Mail the check, payable to ‘Empower and Excel’ to: Empower and Excel, P.O. Box 21555, San Jose, CA, 95151 U.S.A
- By Cash
Important Monthly Reminders:
Instructions on How to Check your Event Sign-up on DonorView:
- Log on to E&E volunteer DonorView
- Click on the “Events” button
- Click on the “print ticket” button
Please Remember the following
- Please sign in to your DonorView account before you sign up for an event. (The advantage of signing in to your account first is that the attendant fields will be auto-filled for you, making your signup process a lot more efficient. Also, it will avoid the creation of multiple accounts.)
- Make sure to check your email for sign-up confirmation and event ticket.
- In the event that an update is required, we will post it on the group chat and send a Donorview update email.
- The event sign-up page also has the latest info. Please check there first if you have any questions.
- Please Note: Deleting a sign-up requires admin intervention so please only sign up when you are confident of your availability.
- We announce new events on the WhatsApp group first as events become available. If you have recently joined E&E, it’s best to sign in to your Donorview account to see ongoing events. Click on the “event” icon. In the upper- right-hand corner, you will see a pull-down menu for ongoing events. * Please Enter Your Volunteer Hours as soon as you are done with your activity
Presidential Volunteer Service Award (PVSA):
- To learn more about the hours required to earn PVSA awards in each age group, visit: https://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/eligibility.
